Is executing a person on his or her birthday cruel and unusual punishment?

[Massacure]

Since Clarence Ray Allen is slated to die tonight...

[Horse with no Name]

1. WTF?

Did it mean he didn't get his cake and ice cream?
For God's sake, the DP on ANY day is cruel and unusual.

[...of J.Temperance]

6. Well Clarence Ray Allen could order birthday cake and ice cream for his

Last meal...heck that'd be a birthday that he'd never forget.

On Edit: Dammit spelling error.

[...of J.Temperance]

2. No it's not...Clarence Ray Allen's had more birthdays than his victims

Ever did.

[Tom Joad]

5. I expect C. Allen also thought his victims "had it coming". Somewhere

the cycle has to stop.

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. You may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. You may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate, nor establish love. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
"Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?"
1967

[Poppyseedman]

9. What makes you think outlawing the DP will cause

Somewhere the cycle has to stop.

We stop executing murderers and killers and that will make people stop killing each other?

I find that logic faulty.

[Tom Joad]

12. I don't think i said that. The burden of proof should be for those who

support the death penalty to prove it helps us as a society.
Does the death penalty help us in the United States? Does it help in Iran? China? Democratic Republic of Congo?
About the only nations where it is still being used.
What is this that makes people so hungry to kill?

[Tom Joad]

3. Executing a man a day we celebrat MLK's birthday is a travesty.

[Jose Diablo]

4. Makes it easy for the tombstone

Just give the years, birth and death and only one date, should save about $100-150 engraving fee as there are less letters.

[xchrom]

7. i'm sorry i could only think of one thing --

SURPRISE!

bad -- i know -- and i'm against the death penalty.

[vicman]

8. Give me...

1. A fully functional and unbiased Justice System

2. Honest prosecuters

3. Fully funded defense counsel for all, and...

4. Most of all, HONEST COPS!

Give me an absolute one hundred percent guarantee that these will be in place at all times and forever, and then and only then can you go back to executing all the poor and colored people your black little heart desires with no interference from me.

BUT, as long as any one of these things is absent or in doubt, DON'T BOTHER ME with your revenge-mistaken-for-justice bullshit.

[Ready4Change]

10. Depends...

Do you let him blow out the candles on his cake, then laugh and say "Bet I know what YOU wished for!"?

Yah, maybe a bit cruel.

I think it was Winston Churchil who said something to the effect of: If you are going to kill a man, the least you can do is be polite about it.

[-..__...]

11. It would be more cruel and unusual to perform the execution on April 1st.

<1 minute before midnight>

"Clarence... Clarence, not only did the Governor just grant you a stay of execution, he pardoned you entirely".

<pause>

"Praise the Lord, but you mean they shaved my head for nothing?"

<pause>

"No, not really.... April Fools!"

Roll on one...

Roll on two...

[catnhatnh]

13. Happy birthday to you...

it's volts 2220 you'll fry like
a burritto, happy birthday to you...

[MrSlayer]

14. No, what's the difference?

Why should it matter what day it's done on? Should we let him have a cake and clowns and shit and then execute him the next day? This is a silly question.

[Adelante]

16. I thought it was me

:crazy:

[kaplan3602]

15. Inasmuch...

... as the DP is cruel and unusual in and of itself, it's no more so if it's done on the convict's birthday.

[JohnLocke]

17. WTF! (nt)